09 July 2009

Summer e-Newsletter

While Parliament is in recess for the summer, my job is to make the most of the time back in the constituency. The summer is a great time to go along to local events, meet people, hold surgeries and get a good feel for what’s going on in Torfaen.

For the last 22 years, I have always used the Parliamentary recess to concentrate on issues affecting Torfaen, in which I have lived all my life. This year is no different. I take normal holidays and I have no other job.

My priorities lie with helping constituents, and with over 50,000 in Torfaen I simply cannot afford to stop during recess. The mail bag continues to rapidly fill, emails flood in and the phone rings as usual – people’s concerns do not simply stop over the summer.

Recess allows me to work even harder on constituency issues. I have been lobbying hard to stop the closure of the Coleg Gwent’s Pontypool campus as well as take the opportunity to visit local people and local organisations all across the constituency.

You will see from my website that my office is open throughout the recess. I will continue to hold regular surgeries in September, and I will make myself available to my constituents as much as possible.

I know that things have not been easy over the past year, with many hard working local families affected by the credit crunch. Whilst we are witnessing encouraging signs that unemployment is falling, the recession continues to dominate the correspondence I receive, and we can’t afford to be complacent. I will work as hard as I possibly can to try to prevent redundancies and bring jobs to Torfaen, and support measures in Parliament to help people through tough times.

There has been good news too though, often thanks to the hard work and commitment of local people – especially those who volunteer in their communities. The exam results of our young people this year are a credit to them, to their parents and to our teachers. Good luck to all those going on to do further studies!

To restore confidence in our democracy, MPs must work even harder for our constituents. I hope that you will trust me to carry on doing that over the summer and into the autumn, in Parliament and here in Torfaen. As always, if you have any problems, views or concerns that you would like to pass on to me, I can be contacted by email, in writing or by phoning my office.

Yours,

Paul Murphy MP
Member of Parliament for Torfaen

Site designed and developed by Public Impact

Site promoted and issued on his own behalf by Paul Murphy MP. 73 Upper Trosnant Street, Pontypool, Torfaen NP4 8AU.
This site is paid for by the Communications Allowance available to MPs. Site admin